


Year Two

by Fear_The_Dragon_Lord



Series: Fremione [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22812805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fear_The_Dragon_Lord/pseuds/Fear_The_Dragon_Lord
Summary: Second installment to my Fremione fanfiction series. Hermione starts her second year at Hogwarts. Life, school, friendship, emotions, and relationships go up and down. But, what did you expect from a 13 year old girl who goes to a wizard school?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Series: Fremione [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637938
Comments: 21
Kudos: 131





	1. The Many Adventures of Summer Break (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> So, um, funny story, I planned to make this chapter a few snippets of significant events over the summer, but then I ended up going overboard and each snippet was more like a chapter all on its own, so I'm gonna just split these summer adventures up into a few parts/chapters, and once I'm done, I'll get back to the Hogwarts fluff.

_ Dear Hermione, _

_ I just got home from the train station and wanted to write you a letter as soon as possible. Ron’s being annoying like always, and Fred and George are bragging about how they’re your friends and I’m not. But that’s not true, because we are friends now. I think you should come to The Burrow sometime this summer. It’s loads of fun to swim in the lake out back this time of year. Plus you’d get to meet my older brothers Bill and Charlie. We could even have a sleepover and you can stay in my room. My room smells really nice, unlike my brothers’ rooms. Maybe we could even have a sleepover at your house if your mum and dad are ok with it. Anyway, that’s all for now. _

_ From _

_ Ginny _

  
  
  


_ Dearest Lovely Hermione, _

_ As your friend and upperclassman, I must insist you not inflate my little sister’s ego with your friendship. I don’t think she’d be able to handle being friends with the smartest witch at Hogwarts without letting it get to her head. Not to mention sh~~~ℓ୧ ༽ ノ ९ _

~~_ Do  _ _ n _ _ ’t  _ _ l i s  _ _ te _ _ n  _ _ to _ _ hi m He  _ _ rmio n e _ _ He ‘ s  _ _ ly _ _ i n _ _ g _ ~~

_ Ignore those scribbles, I had a momentary muscle spasm in my hand, everything is all good now. My offer for you to come to The Burrow still stands. Anytime you want to come over, just send me an owl letting me know and I can fly the car over to pick you up. Really, anytime at all. _

_ With no ulterior motives _

_ Fred _

  
  


Hermione let out a breathy laugh to herself as she placed her letters in her desk. She pulled out some light blue craft paper and a metallic pink marker, and began writing back.

  
  


_ Dear Ginny, _

_ I think a sleepover sounds like a wonderful idea. I’m sure my parents won’t mind at all. Especially after we all hang out at Diagon Alley so our parents can get to know each other. A lake sounds really nice, I think it would be fun if we planned a day to swim while I’m at The Burrow. And when you come to my house, I can show you a bunch of muggle movies and games. Also, I have a few pairs of shoes and some clothes that I’ve grown out of, but I haven’t given them away yet, so if you want, when you come over, you can look at them and keep any you like, since you seem to really like muggle clothes, and I’d be more than happy to give them to you. I look forward to spending time with you this summer and I think we’re going to become great friends. _

_ From _

_ Hermione _

  
  
  


_ Dear Fred, _

_ Stop picking on Ginny or this will be the last, and only, letter I write to you for the rest of the summer. _

_ With complete seriousness and a reputation for keeping my word _

_ Hermione _

  
  


Hermione went downstairs with the letter that Mrs. Weasley sent the night before. She wanted to make sure her parents got a chance to read it and respond, before sending Errol off.

“Oh, how wonderful. Molly said she and Arthur are available this Saturday, which is perfect for us. Do you want to finalize the date and send a letter back?” Mrs. Granger asked Hermione after reading the letter.

“Sounds good to me. Errol is waiting upstairs, so you can give me the letter after you’re done writing it and I can give it to him to take to The Burrow.” Hermione said.

Mrs. Granger pulled out a piece of paper and started writing. “How does noon sound?” She asked and Hermione gave a thumbs up while walking to the cupboard to get some oatmeal and dried fruit.

After her breakfast, Hermione took the three notes and tied them to Errol’s leg and told him to bring them to The Burrow. In five days, she’d be seeing her friends again. Overwhelmed with excitement, she pulled out another piece of craft paper, this one was a light yellow color, and she grabbed her metallic orange marker and began writing.

  
  


_ Dear Harry, _

_ This Saturday, My family is going to Diagon Alley to hang out with The Weasley’s. I'd very much like for you to come with. You said you lived on Privet Drive, right? That’s not too far from The Leaky Cauldron, if you want, my parents can pick you up on the way and we can go together. It would be really nice if all of us could hang out this summer. I look forward to hearing back from you. _

_ From _

_ Hermione _

  
  


Now all she had to do was wait for Errol to come back so she could send her letter to Harry.

✿

“Hermione!” Ginny ran over to her new friend and they immediately hugged each other. “Come on. My parents are already waiting inside.” Ginny pulled Hermione into The Leaky Cauldron and her parents followed closely behind. On the right side of the pub were three people with bright red hair. Molly, Ron, and a man who Hermione presumed to be Mr. Weasley.

After a brief introduction, Molly and Mrs. Granger agreed to let the girls go walk around the shops, as long as they brought Ron with them. He looked surprisingly relieved at the offer. Most likely due to not wanting to stay with the grown ups and talk about boring stuff like politics. The three made their way out into the main path of the alley.

“Hey, Ron, have you heard from Harry since summer break started? I sent him a letter a few days ago, but he never sent one back.” Hermione asked, trying to defuse the tension that Ron always seemed to carry around her.

“Uh, no, I haven’t heard from him either.” He looked sad. “But I think he’s probably fine. We shouldn’t worry too much. Maybe his Aunt and Uncle aren’t letting him send letters. He did say they hated magic.”

“You’re probably right. Will you let me know if you do hear from him though?”

Ron nodded. “You do the same.”

They continued walking down the path until they reached Florean Fortesque’s Ice Cream Parlor. Hermione bought herself a scoop of mint, refusing to let Ron pay for it when he offered, more so as a formality than out of genuine friendliness. Ginny got a scoop of chocolate and Ron got a scoop of toffee, before paying.

They made their way over to a bookshop that Hermione remembered enjoying, the first time she went to Diagon Alley. After browsing for 20 minutes, they went to  Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop  where Ron said Fred and George went as soon as they arrived.

Hermione hadn’t been to the joke shop the last time she was there, but she wasn’t surprised at all as to why the twins loved it so much as soon as she stepped through the door. Ginny dragged her toward the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans while Ron decided to go off on his own to look at note taking quills. There was a jar of tester beans on the display and both girls took three each.

“Lawn clippings.” Hermione said after eating the first one.

“Strawberry.” Ginny said. The girls went back and forth, revealing their flavors.

“Butterbeer.”

“Cheese.”

“Lime.”

“Pumpkin.”

“Well well well, what do we have here?” Fred said resting an arm on Hermione’s shoulder. George did the same to Ginny.

“Enjoying the joke shop?” George asked. The girls nodded.

“I should’ve known you two would be here. Up to no good I suspect.” Hermione crossed her arms.

“Of course ‘Mione. We couldn’t miss out on such a great opportunity.” Fred said, his signature sly smirk making its way to his face. “Are you coming to The Burrow today?”

“I don’t know, but probably not since my parents didn’t plan on much more than a meet up to get to know your parents.” Hermione said.

“Hop on.” George said, crouching down in front of Ginny. She jumped up wrapping her arms around him, and George carried her off while she protested against leaving Hermione, when she realised he wasn’t offering a piggy back ride for fun, but to leave his brother alone with Hermione.

“Prat.” Fred whispered under his breath.

“Well, since you’re the expert here, I’ll leave it up to you to show me the best pranking items.” Hermione said, feeling at ease, unlike how she would have felt if they were completely alone.

“Are you feeling alright?” Fred asked, looking at her with disbelief. “I thought you didn’t approve.”

“Well, I don’t, at least when we’re at school, since they aren’t allowed. School rules. But we’re not in school right now, so it’s ok.”

“Noted.” Fred put his arm out. “Come with me M’lady and I’ll show you all the wonders  Gambol and Japes  so kindly has to offer.” Hermione locked arms with him, shaking her head amused at his formality. They walked through the shop, occasionally stopping so Fred could admire a prank, and Hermione consistently criticized the potential dangers of each one. Fred would roll his eyes, but kept showing Hermione around, excited that she had taken enough of an interest in something he was passionate about, to let him tell her about it.

Hermione couldn’t help but admire how Fred’s face would light up with each stop they made. She’d never admit to it, but she was enjoying herself and found herself genuinely interested in everything Fred said.

“What’s that over there?” Hermione asked, pointing to the corner of the shop. There was a small bookshelf that couldn't of had more than 20 books on it. The two of them walked over, Hermione unlinked her arm from Fred’s so she could pick up a book. Fred made an upset ‘hmph’ sound, but it was too quiet for Hermione to hear over the rucas of the shop.

“ Gambol and Japes Guide to Pranks and Practical Jokes.” Hermione read out loud.

“Thinking of getting in the business of pranks?” Fred asked, leaning his back against the bookshelf so he was facing Hermione.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She said, not looking up from the chapter index.

“It’d be a dream come true.” Fred leaned over slightly to peer into the book. “With your brilliant mind, and my unmatched creativity, I’m sure we could pull off the best prank Hogwarts has ever seen.”

“Nice try. Using flattery to get me to break rules with you.” Hermione glanced up and poked Fred’s nose, then turned back to the book and turned a page. “I don’t owe you a favor anymore, remember? Which means you can’t guilt me into pulling a prank with you, George, and Lee.”

“I bet I could change that.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. All I have to do is jinx anyone who picks on you, that way you have no choice but to agree to pulling a prank with us, in order for me to undo the jinx. It worked once before, and I’m sure it’d work again.”

Hermione let an airy laugh out her nose. “Except, unlike last time, I actually know how to use magic now. So, I could just undo the jinx myself.”

“Oh please, ‘Mione, I’ve been memorizing jinxes since I was seven, I highly doubt you could recognize every one of them, let alone memorize counter spells for each one.”

“I’ve read over 300 books about the wizarding world since receiving my Hogwarts letter, so I like my odds of being able to identify a jinx and counter it, and for the ones I don’t know, I’m sure I could figure something out.”

“What?” Fred blushed. “300 books? How?”

“Well I read  _ Hogwarts a History _ ,  _ Basic Magical Laws _ , and  _ Integration into the World of Magic for Muggleborns _ the day McGonagall gave them to me when she brought me my letter, and then I read all eight of the required books for first years during the week between my trip to Diagon Alley and the day before leaving for Hogwarts, as well as half the leisure reading books I got while I was at Diagon Alley, since the bookstore was having a sale, 10 books for 1 Galleon, and I finished the other half by the second day of school.” Hermione began scribbling in the air with her finger as she tried to calculate in her head how many books that was.

“That’s 21 books right there, and I spent my free time during my first two weeks at school, in the library, and ended up reading a consistent 2-3 books everyday after finishing my homework. That’s roughly 52 books at that point. Then all that crazy stuff started happening with Harry and Ron and I only managed to get in 1 book a day, sometimes it’d even take me 2 days to finish a book,” Hermione scrunched her nose up, thinking about how annoyed she was with Harry and Ron for cutting into her reading time.

“So in order to make up for that lost reading time, I made it my goal to read at least 9 books a week, doing my best to get through the bulk of them at night or on weekends,” Hermione swished her finger around again. “Which got me up to 154.”

“Then before winter break, I asked McGonagall if I could bring a few books with me from the library, she said yes, and I read all 32 of them, with one day to spare.” She smiled triumphantly at her impeccable time management skills.

“Luckily, I had lots of spare time for reading during January and February because the snow made a good excuse for me to stay indoors, and I ended up knocking out 70 more books.”

Her face went sour again before continuing. “Unfortunately, March was when Harry and Ron really started getting caught up in stuff they shouldn’t, so I kept having to put off my reading to make sure they were ok, and only managed to read 56 more books for those those 3 months by the week before final exams, which I wanted to set aside for rereading books to prepare for exams.”

She calculated one more time, just to make sure she was adding the numbers right. “So, all in all, I’ve read 304 books.”

“Oh.” Was all Fred could say. His cheeks started turning pink as he looked at the witch in front of him, her nose stuck in a joke book. He was too amazed by what she had accomplished to say or do anything else. The two of them stood like this for about half an hour. Hermione turning pages, and Fred, for the first time in his life, appreciating books for simply existing.

He already knew that he enjoyed seeing Hermione laugh and the way she’d scrunch up her nose when she was about to lecture him about his behavior, but this was different. Now that he was seeing her read up close, Fred scolded himself for neglecting such an amazing sight. Her face was relaxed, eyes sparkling with a desire to learn as much as she could, occasionally the side of her mouth would pull upwards, or she’d chew the inside of her cheek and furrow her eyebrow, which Fred learned was her thinking face. At that moment, Fred decided that he would take any chance he got from this day forward to admire the look of content and fulfillment that books brought to Hermione.

Hermione was half way done with the book, completely oblivious to the goofy smile plastered on the boy in front of her, and far too caught up in reading to see the girl with a flaming head of ginger hair making a mad dash straight at her. In a split second there was a tiny fist colliding with Fred’s stomach, causing him to double over in pain, and before Hermione could react, Ginny grabbed her hand and started pulling her to the door, with so much force that Hermione had to drop the book and put out a hand to grab a shelf and keep herself from falling. She quickly regained her balance and started running at a consistent pace with the younger girl.

There was no time for Hermione to process all of what just happened, so she shook her head deciding to just go along with whatever Ginny was planning. Within a few seconds, they were standing in front of Madame Malkin’s Robes for all Occasions. The two made their way to the back where the flowy dress robes were. Ginny was admiring an orange satin dress while Hermione gently brushed her hand along a bright pink dress that was covered in so many feathers that the only part of the dress that was visible, were the straps.

“You should try it on.” Ginny said, smirking at Hermione while nudging an elbow at her.

Hermione laughed. “I think it’s too big.”

“We can ask for a smaller size. Come on, I wanna see what it looks like.”

Hermione contemplated for a minute and then said, “Ok, but you have to try on that one.” Ginny followed with her eyes to where Hermione was pointing and let out a loud snort. There by the window display was a bright blue dress that puffed out at the hips and curved around to cinch at the ankles, forming a sphere shape around the legs.

The two girls got the right sizes for their dresses and rushed off to the fitting rooms. After several minutes of struggling, they both stepped out to show each other. As soon as they locked eyes on one another, they began laughing so hard that they were weezing. Hermione looked like a pink cone shaped bird with her arms and head awkwardly poking out of the top of the dress. Ginny on the other hand, despite getting the smallest size, was a few inches too short for the dress to make a proper sphere around her legs, and it ended up looking like a blue pumpkin shape instead. After having a good laugh, Ginny pushed the sleeves of the dress up her arms so they wouldn’t fall over her hands as she made her way back into the changing room. Hermione reached down and grabbed a huge handful of the dress and lifted it so she could walk back into the changing room without stepping all over the feathers.

Once they finished changing, the girls made their way back to The Leaky Cauldron. Hermione and Ginny’s parents were still talking and laughing, seeming to get along very well. Arthur spotted the girls after a minute and waved them over.

“You must be Hermione.” He said holding out a hand for her to shake. “I’ve heard all about you. Gotten a reputation for being one of the most intelligent witches at Hogwarts.”

“Ah, you heard about that?” Hermione said forcing a smile onto her face.

“Hermione, dear, we were just discussing summer plans, and thought maybe you two would like to have a sleepover at our house next Friday. How does that sound?” Mrs. Granger asked. Both the girls’ faces lit up and they nodded their heads eagerly.

“Oh that works out so nicely. Ginny, you’ll have to get up earlier than usual so your father can drop you off on his way to pick up Charlie.” Molly said. Ginny had no problem with this and gave her mum a thumbs up.

A few minutes later, Ron, George, and a grumpy looking Fred made their way back. Ron was playing with a finger trap and sat at the table right behind his parents and the twins followed him to go and occupy the seats on the other side. Fred dropped his head to the table and George snickered at his brother’s pouting.

Not too long after the boys got back, the two families parted ways. The Granger’s waving goodbye while making their way to the exit. The Weasley’s returning goodbye waves of their own, except Ron, who couldn’t get his finger’s out of the Gamble and Japes finger trap.


	2. The Many Adventures of Summer Break (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know light up shoes weren't invented until 1992, so it doesn't make sense for Hermione to have an old pair that she grew out of, during the summer of the year before they were invented, but I just really wanted to play around with Hermione introducing muggle culture to Ginny, and more importantly, I wanted to write the twins reaction scene. So for the sake of a good scene, ignore the inaccurate timeline lineup between the muggle and magic worlds.  
> P.S. This chapter doesn't have any Fremione interactions, however it is pretty short, so I recommend reading it anyway, because it is a set up for a scene in the next chapter, that will lead to a Fremione interaction.

Hermione and Ginny were sitting in the back of the car discussing cute owl names. Mr. Weasley had dropped Ginny off that morning and now Mr. and Mrs. Granger were taking them to one of the shopping districts because Ginny wanted to look at muggle clothes and candy. Hermione’s parents waited at the food court while the girls walked around.

Ginny was mesmerized by every shop they went in. There was a lot more variety in shapes and styles of clothes in the muggle world and she wanted to look at every single one. She almost managed to do that too, but Hermione redirected their path so they wouldn’t pass the lingerie store, which she though would intrigue Ginny’s curiosity for sure, seeing as Hermione hadn’t seen an equivalent to one of those shops in the wizarding world, meaning Ginny probably hadn’t seen one either.

After combing through almost every clothing store, the two went over a picture booth, since Ginny had never seen a still photo, and Hermione thought this would be a great way to show her.

“Ok, so first you put in £0.50, then you select which theme you want, and it’ll take four pictures, but the screen will count down from five before each picture so we have time to pick a new face or pose.” Hermione explained. “I think we should smile for the first one, make a funny face for the second one, do a close up for the third, and a scary face for the fourth.”

“Got it.” Ginny was practically jumping up and down from excitement. Hermione put the coins in and started scrolling through the themes. “Wait. What’s that one?” Ginny pointed to a theme covered in fluffy animals that Hermione recognised from TV.

“That’s Sesame Street. I used to watch that cartoon when I was younger.”

“Really? Ok, I wanna do that theme.”

“Alright, get ready.” Hermione pushed a button and the screen counted down to one then snapped a picture of the two girls smiling. “Now a funny face.” 5. Hermione stuck out her tongue and made moose antlers with her hands. 4. Ginny followed suit by sticking out her tongue, but instead of making moose ears, she pushed her nose up to look like a pig snout. 3. 2. 1. Snap. “Close up.” 5. The girls stood up. 4. Leaned forward. 3. Pushed their faces up to the camera. 2. Eyes wide. 1. Snap. “The last one was scary, right?”

Ginny confirmed with a “Yup.” and they sat back down, but as soon as the countdown started a bird flew into the booth. 5. Both girls screeched. 4. The bird was flapping around not knowing how to get out. 3. Hermione tried to open the curtain for the bird but it kept getting in the way. 2. Ginny held onto Hermione who put a protective arm in front of her. 1. Snap.

The girls quickly sprung out of the booth and held the curtain open so the bird could get out. After a few tries, the bird managed to make its way through and flew off to the fountain in the center of the shopping courtyard. The girls gave each other a look of disbelief and then broke out into obnoxious laughter. The photo booth made a quiet spinning noise and spit out two sets of four pictures. After catching her breath, Hermione picked the pictures up and handed one to Ginny.

“What do you think?” Hermione asked. Ginny was admiring each picture one by one. Their big bright smiles, goofy faces, the brilliant detail of two brown eyes, one surrounded by ginger eyelashes, the other surrounded by brown eyelashes, and finally, the one that quickly became her favorite. Hermione holding an arm in front of Ginny. Ginny holding onto Hermione’s shoulder and peering out from behind bushy hair. Both sets of eyes wide in fear. And of course, the bird that caused them so much panic was a white blur on the side.

“I love them.” Ginny said. “The last one is my favorite.”

“Mine too.” Hermione agreed. The girls spent several more hours looking at shops, mostly the candy shop, but they stopped in a few other places to look at toys. They spent a total of six hours looking around at stuff before heading back to the food court to get a late lunch with Hermione’s parents. After a filling meal of spaghetti and rosemary bread from the small Italian restaurant in that district, they headed back to the house.

The drive back provided a nice break, to nap and rest from a long day of exploring. By the time they pulled into the driveway, the girls’ energy had been fully recharged. They spent most of the night in Hermione’s room drawing with the metallic markers Hermione used to write a letter to Ginny. There was a huge piece of paper on the floor between them, and it slowly started to fill up with random doodles. At one point, Hermione remembered the clothes box she had in her closet. She went and got them down for Ginny to look through.

“Hey, this is the animal from our picture theme.” Ginny said. She held up a white t-shirt that had a picture of Cookie Monster on the front.

“Yeah, that’s Cookie Monster. He was my favorite character in Sesame Street.” Hermione reached in the box and pulled out a pair of bermuda shorts that she had repurchased in another size after growing out of them. “Here, this would look best with that shirt, especially if you tuck it in.” Ginny went to the bathroom and put the clothes on, arranging them how Hermione suggested. While Hermione was waiting, she changed into her own bermuda shorts and a light orange t-shirt that she tucked in. Soon Ginny came back out and gushed about how much she loved the outfit. She was even more happy knowing that she matched Hermione.

“Are you sure I can keep these?” Ginny asked.

“Of course. I grew out of them, so if you don’t wear ‘em then they’ll just sit in my closet.” Hermione said. She reached back into the box and pulled out a pair of light blue velcro sneakers. “Wait there.” Hermione went over to her closet and pulled out another pair of sneakers, the only difference was they were a few sizes bigger. “Put those on and I’ll put on mine.”

Ginny was so fascinated by the velcro that she hadn’t even put on one shoe by the time Hermione put on both. It took a while to get over the shock of the velcro material, but once she did, Hermione stomped a foot down and her shoe started flashing. Ginny’s entire face lit up and she jumped as high as she could. It didn’t seem possible to get any happier, but Ginny managed to radiate pure happiness as soon as she landed her jumped and lights began twinkling all around her feet.

“Hermione, these are amazing. I love them.”

“That’s not even the best part.” Hermione said.

“There’s more?”

“Mhmm. The lights in these shoes are special lights and they make you run faster when you wear them.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah, come on. Let’s go to my backyard and you can test it for yourself.” Hermione and Ginny went outside and began running in circles as fast as they could.

“Woah. These really do make you run faster.” The girls quickly tired themselves out for the second time that day. Sprinting at full speed for 20 minutes was a lot more work than they realized once they finally stopped.

They went inside, hungry from all the running, and scarfed down their dinner. After that, they dressed down and got ready for bed. Originally, they planned to play some more before sleeping, but exhaustion overcame them. Hermione crawled into bed and curled on her side into a ball, hugging her stuffed otter to her chest. Ginny laid on the bed next to Hermione, with her legs sprawled out, one arm hanging over the side of the bed, and her other hand completely stuffed into one of the light up sneakers.


	3. The Many Adventures of Summer Break (Part 3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't the most eventful, and it didn't have as much Fremione interaction as I implied it would in the last chapters notes, but recently I decided to go in a slightly different direction with the story than I originally planned, so that's why this chapter is so scattered and why the next one will probably be scattered as well. But I'm thinking, I'll just do one more summer adventure chapters, and then bring the setting back to Hogwarts.

(Quick Flashback)  
“Ginny was really fascinated with Hermione’s clothes when we saw her at the train station. Maybe sometime we can go shopping in muggle stores to get her something, and you could show us around muggle places.” Molly said. She was with her husband and Hermione’s parents at the Leaky Cauldron.

“Yes, brilliant idea Molly.” Arthur said.

“Oh that would be lovely. We’d love to show you around. And if you’re alright with it, Hermione has some clothes she’s grown out of that Ginny can have, so you don’t have to buy a whole outfit.” Mrs. Granger said.

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to overstep. I wouldn’t feel right having Ginny take Hermione’s clothes.” Molly said.

“You wouldn’t be overstepping at all, Hermione grew out of them since getting them at her last birthday, so they’re still in very good condition, and if Ginny doesn’t want them, they’ll just sit in Hermione’s closet. I’d much rather another girl get a chance to enjoy the clothes, than have them just sit in a closet, unused.” Mrs. Granger tried to assure the other mom.

“Hmm.” Molly still didn’t like the idea of just taking the clothes. “Alright, but only if you let me treat your family to a nice home cooked meal. I don’t want to just take something without some kind of payment.”

“I think that sounds very reasonable.”

“Well, then, how about when you drop Ginny off, after their sleepover next week, you stay for dinner.” Molly said, feeling much better about this situation. Mrs. Granger quickly agreed.  
(Flashback Over)

“Mom, dad, look.” Ginny burst through the front door as soon as she and the Granger’s arrived at The Burrow. She ran to the living room her dad was sitting with Charlie and the twins.

“What is it Ginny, dear?” Arthur said, smiling wide.

Ginny stomped her foot down and her shoes lit up. Her dad and three brothers were immediately entranced by the shoes.

“Where did you get those!?” The twins said in sync.

“Ginny, wait up.” Hermione ran through the front door. Looked to the left then the right, and after spotting Ginny she skipped over, her shoes lighting up on the way.

“Marvelous!” Arthur said. “Absolutely Marvelous! How did you get them to light up?”

“There’s tiny little lights in the bottom of the shoes that light up when you push down on them.” Hermione explained.

“Where did you get them?” Fred asked.

“Kids shoe store in the muggle shopping district.” Hermione said. “Well actually, I had those ones already, but I grew out of them so I gave ‘em to Ginny.”

“Dad! Can we go to the muggle shoe store and get some light up shoes?” George asked.

“I don’t think they’ll have your size.” Hermione said. “They’re only made for kids, and the ones I have now, are the biggest size in the girls section, and in the boys section, the biggest size are just one size bigger than mine.”

“What!? That’s so unfair.” Fred said.

“Do these shoes have any other abilities?” Arthur asked, ignoring his sons complaining.

“Yes, they make you run faster.” Ginny said. “Come on Hermione, let’s show them.” Ginny took off and ran right out the door, Hermione close behind. Arthur, Fred, George, and Charlie followed them out to the front to see how fast the girls could run, and sure enough, they appeared to be running three times as fast as usual. Fred and George’s jealousy multiplied.

After ten minutes of running, Molly called everyone inside to eat dinner. Everyone went inside and Ron and Percy came down from their rooms to join. Arthur sat at the end of the table, Molly on one side, Mr. and Mrs. Granger on the other. Charlie sat on the other end of the table, Ginny and Hermione on one side, Fred and George across from them, still pouting about not getting light up shoes of their own. Ron and Percy sat in the middle, across from each other.

It was a very enjoyable dinner, for the most part. Arthur was discussing Yo-yo’s with Mr. Granger, while Molly and Mrs. Granger exchanged recipes. Ron and Charlie were speaking across the table about Quidditch. Percy was reading a book under the table. Ginny and Hermione whispered jokes to each other. Fred and George, however, were glaring at Ginny and Hermione the entire time, refusing to avert their attention.

✿

“Alright, Charlie, here’s the plan,” George started.

“I’m gonna trap Hermione,” Fred said.

“And I’ll snatch her shoes,”

“Then we’ll bring them to you,”

“And you’ll duplicate them,”

“So there’s three pairs,”

“We’ll give Hermione back her pair,”

“So when she’s not looking,”

“You can enlarge the other two,”

“And then George and I can have light up shoes too.”

“The Slytherins will be so jealous.”

“Not to mention, none of them would be able to catch us,”

“Since we’d be running so much faster.”

“So? What d’you say?” Fred finished. The twins looked at Charlie with anticipation.

“Why would I help you two with something like that?” Charlie asked.

“We’d do it ourselves,”

“But we can’t use magic outside of school.”

“I get that part.” Charlie tried to hide his amusement. “But what’s in it for me?”

“Just duplicate another pair for yourself then, if you want something.” Fred said.

“As much as I like the light up shoes, they wouldn’t be of much use to me. I can’t wear something that flashes around the dragons.” Charlie said.

“Alright then, what do you want?” George asked.

“Nothing in particular. I’m actually pretty content right now.” Charlie locked his fingers and rested his hands behind his head, leaning back on the sofa.

✿

“Come on, let’s go put it in my scrapbook.” Ginny said, rushing up the stairs. Hermione was only two steps behind.

A few minutes later, the two girls came running down the stairs with a big book, some glitter, a bunch of stickers, and plopped themselves down in front of the coffee table in the living room. They were across from Charlie, and the twins sat to the right.

“Charlie, can you help us stick these pictures to my book? I can’t find my glue.” Ginny asked.

“Sure.” Charlie pulled out his wand and leaned forward, over the table, to see what the pictures were.

“What!? You’ll help Ginny when she asks you for something, but not us?” Fred said. Charlie just ignored him and peered further.

“Why aren’t those pictures moving?” Charlie asked.

“Pictures in the muggle world don’t move.” Hermione explained. The twins curiosity piqued when they heard this and they leaned over to see the pictures too. It was the pictures from the photo booth. Four neatly aligned photos, with a border covered in many different colorful weird looking animals.

“What are those?” George asked, pointing to Elmo.

“Those are Sesame Street characters. They’re from a show I used to watch when I was younger.” Hermione explained.

“What are shows?” Charlie asked, looking just as curious as the twins.

“Umm… well, they’re kind of like moving pictures, but they have sound and tell a story.” Hermione said.

“Like the portraits at Hogwarts.” Fred said.

“No, not exactly. The portraits are of real people who talk how they did when they were alive, but the people in shows are pretending to be someone else. They memorized what they’re supposed to say and do, and then a camera records them, in one long moving picture. The Sesame Street ones usually last 20 minutes.” 

“What!?” Ginny and her brothers said. Hermione remembered that she didn’t get to show Ginny movies last night, so she felt even more flustered trying to figure out how to explain shows.

“A 20 minute long picture. How does a camera get all that?” Fred asked.

“It’s a special kind of camera. It’s made for long vid- umm pictures, not short ones, that’s why they last so long.”

✿

It had been a long three hours after dinner. Hermione spent most of it, explaining movies and shows. At some point, Ron even came to the living room, unable to hide that he was curious too. Eventually, Charlie stuck the photo to Ginny’s scrapbook and Ginny started putting glitter and stickers all over it. Just underneath the picture, she wrote ‘Ginny and Hermione’ in the neatest, and slowest handwriting she had ever done. Not long after Charlie stood up to go get a treat from the kitchen. Before he could leave, Ginny grabbed onto his right arm. Knowing full well what was expected of him, he held out his left arm for Hermione, who grabbed on.

“Hold on tight.” With an exaggerated lift, Charlie pulled them both up so they were swinging from his arms as he brought them over to the kitchen. Fred glaring at the spot where Hermione’s hands were holding onto Charlie.

“Mate, get ahold of yourself.” George said, nudging Fred.

“I’m fine.” Fred huffed. He pulled the scrapbook in front of him and looked down at the pictures. A warm smile grew on his face, slowly turning to an amused grin by the time he got to the last picture.

“You’re hopeless.” George said.

“You’re hopeless.” Fred mocked. George just laughed. “It’ll go away soon.”

“What do you mean?” George asked.

“I mean, it’s fun messing with her and getting her riled up, and I like making her laugh and smile, but it’s dumb and it’ll got away soon.”

“Wow. You must really like her if you can’t even say the word cru-” Fred slapped his hands over George’s mouth before he could finish.

“Don’t say it.” Fred hissed. He then removed his hands. “Like I said, soon I’ll only think of her as a friend.”

“Sure you will.” George patted Fred’s head.

“I will.”


	4. The Many Adventures of Summer Break (Part 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is an unfortunately short chapter, but I'm honestly so plagued with work and school. Let me tell you, college does not leave a lot of free time for writing, and working retail drains me of all the mental stability I need to think of stuff to write. So, hopefully this was a good final Summer Adventure chapter, even though it was rushed, and you all are looking forward to the main cast getting back to Hogwarts.

Hermione and Ginny were twirling their fingers in the water of the lake by the burrow. They both had on their matching bermuda shorts, but Hermione had on a salmon polo shirt and Ginny wore the Hawaiian print button down that Molly got her from a second hand muggle store while Mr. and Mrs. Granger gave her and Arthur a tour of the city.

“Let's go to the dock.” Ginny said. “There’s tadpoles over there.” The girls went to the dock, laid on their stomachs, and started fishing their hands around for tadpoles.

“Ick. They’re so squishy.” Hermione said, sitting up. Ginny followed and was voicing an agreement, when suddenly they were both falling head first into the lake. The water was warm from the sun and the sensation of being in the water would have been relaxing, that is, if they’d been prepared for it. Hermione broke the surface as soon as she got her bearings. Luckily, her instincts to hold her breath kicked in before she hit the water, so she didn’t inhale any. Wiping the water away from her eyes, while Ginny sputtered out a few coughs, Hermione planted her feet and the water came to just below her shoulders. The girls looked up and saw the twins smirking down at them.

“What was that for?” Ginny said.

“It’s not our fault, you were practically hanging over the dock anyway.” Fred said.

“Sooner or later the wind would have pushed you in. We just got it done and over with for you.” George said.

Hermione huffed and grabbed the edge of the dock. She intentionally gave a pathetic jump to pull herself up, but ended up sinking back into the water. She tried one more time before looking up at Fred.

“Well, are you gonna help me out or not?” Hermione reached a hand up to Fred, and Ginny, who caught on rather quickly, beckoned George to do the same.

The unsuspecting boys took pity on them and reached down. Hermione knew she shouldn’t have been surprised that Fred could pull her up with no effort, that was a positive side effect of being a beater on the Quidditch team, but she was still taken aback for a second. As soon as Hermione was high enough to bend her leg up and step on the dock, she held Fred’s hand in a death grip with both of hers, and pushed herself off the dock and back in the lake, this time pulling Fred in with her. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Ginny successfully do the same to George. They tumbled into the water and Ginny and Hermione quickly swim-walked back to the dock before the twins could get over the shock of being pulled in the water. They had managed to get most of the way out, before the twins wrapped their arms around their torsos and pulled the girls back in.

“I have to admit, I didn’t see that coming.” Fred said and started tickling Hermione’s sides. She began flailing around and laughing and tried to pry herself away, but she was too ticklish to fend him off. Ginny on the the other hand managed to get out of Georges grasp and climb up so one foot was on his shoulder and the other on his head.

“I have conquered the beast.” Ginny proclaimed, putting her fists on her hips, then immediately losing balance and falling back in.

“Mum said to come back inside to hydrate and have a snack.” Ron said from the dock. He’d just walked over after his mother made him, seeing as he was the only one downstairs who she could send. He turned his gaze to the ground and began walking back. The four kids got themselves out of the lake, and Hermione jogged to catch up with Ron.

“He still hasn’t replied, has he?” Hermione asked. Ron shook his head. He had started acting this way near the pique of summer, worry was his constant emotion with each day that he didn’t hear from Harry. “I’m sorry. I know he’s your best friend, and this is probably really rough for you, but I’m sure he’s ok.” Ron just grunted in response and sped up his pace.

✿

Molly sent Hermione and Ginny up to take a quick shower to get the lake water off them. Hermione was in and out in five minutes. She threw on a baggy t-shirt and tucked the front into her baggy jean shorts that cinched at her waist and just above the ankles. She wrapped the towel around her shoulders and stepped out for Ginny, who was equally as fast. The younger girl came out wearing a Chudley Canon’s shirt and a pair of tan hand-me-down trousers she got from Ron and cut into shorts. She mimicked Hermione by wrapping her own towel around her shoulders and they made their way down to the kitchen.

Molly handed them a huge plate full of fruits and veggies. There was watermelon, oranges, cherries, strawberries, carrots, cucumbers, celery, and a few dips. Ron wasn’t kidding when he said Molly wants to keep us hydrated. Hermione thought. She took the platter and Ginny carried the lemonade as they made their way out to the yard. They laid their towels down, under a tree and mindlessly ate their snack. After they finished, Ginny laid down to soak up the sun while Hermione read a book. They spent a good hour outside before both of them dozed off.

✿

“I’ll gather up the plate and cups, you two bring the girls inside.” Molly said to Fred and George. The girls had napped until the sun was nearly setting, and Molly had gone out to look for them. She picked up the kitchenware and walked off to the house. Fred kneeled down and scooped Hermione up as gently as he could, not wanting to wake her. George, however, knew Ginny was a heavy sleeper, so he didn’t bother being careful about it, he just tossed his sister around like a sack of potatoes that had inconveniently blocked his path.

They laid the girls down on the couch so their heads were on the arm rests, and their feet overlapped each other.

✿

“I’ll see at Diagon Alley in two weeks, try not to have too much fun without me.” Hermione said, giving Ginny a hug. It was early and the sun was partially shining over the horizon. Molly was the only other person up, with the two of them. They were waiting for Hermione’s parents to arrive; they had to pick her up early because they were leaving for France, for the week that day at noon.

“I won’t have fun if you aren’t here.” Ginny pouted.

“That’s not true. As long as your brothers are here, you’ll have someone to poke fun at.” Hermione said.

“Good point.” Ginny said. “They’re gonna be mad that you left without saying bye to them.”

“It’s their own fault. I told them I was leaving early.” Hermione huffed. “Maybe I should just go up and nudge them, and if they don’t wake up, then I’ll let them sleep.”

“Or,” Ginny grabbed Hermione’s hand and pulled her up the stairs. “Here.” Ginny handed Hermione a marker and grabbed one for herself. Then she led them up another flight of stairs to Fred and George’s room. Ginny opened the door as quietly as possible. The twins were sprawled out on their beds, and occasionally a light snore filled the room. Hermione was hit with a wave of relief when she saw they weren’t sleeping shirtless, like Ron had said.

“Are we–” Hermione started.

“Yes!” Ginny said,cutting off Hermione. “Fred first.” The two girls made their way over to a sleeping Fred and started drawing on his face. By the time they were done, Fred had cat whiskers, a septum nose ring, upward curling eyebrow tails, and a tag on his forehead that read “Ron was here”. After, they quietly made their way to George and gave him a big curly mustache and pointed chin beard, a patchy unibrow, and the same “Ron was here” tag on his forehead.

The girls took a step back to admire their work for a good minute and then went back downstairs where Hermione’s parents were waiting. With one last hug to Ginny and Molly, a goodbye, and a thanks, Hermione got in the backseat of the car and her parents drove off.


	5. Diagon Alley and Back to Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is incredibly short, fast paced, and messy, but I wanted to post something because I know it's frustrating waiting for fanfic updates. I hope it's enough to hold everyone off and that you can handle waiting a few more days for the next chapter update. I've already written a bunch of different parts for the chapter after this, I just need to heavily edit it and make transitions that don't suck. Unfortunately, I still have one more day of school left despite living in a ground zero state for the coronavirus and schools being shut down, because one of my professors got special permission for our class to meet up for a final exam. So, I'm hoping that after the exam, my schedule will clear up significantly and I can start writing more consistently.

“Harry!” Hermione ran up to her friend and threw her arms around him as soon as she realized just who it was. “Everyone has been looking all over for you. Wher— What happened to your glasses?”

“Oh, they must have broke when I fell.” He said and pulled the glasses off his face.

“Here.” Hermione tapped the glasses with her wand and said the repairing charm, fixing his glasses, just as she had, almost an exact year ago. “There, that’s better. Now come on, everyone’s in the book shop.”

There was big commotion around Harry’s arrival in the book store, several pictures were taken, books were signed, and before she knew it, Hermione was standing next to Ginny at the bottom of the staircase, both sneering up at Malfoy and his father.

“Famous Potter. Can’t even go into a bookshop without making the front page.” Malfoy said, and his father began inspecting Harry like he was an animal while making comments about the Dark Lord's defeat against him.

“Voldemort killed my parents. He was nothing but a coward.” Harry said flatly.

“You must be quite brave to say his name.”

“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.” Hermione said smugly.

“And you must be Miss. Granger? I presume.” Lucius looked at Draco, who nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard all about you,” He looked across the bookshop at Mr. and Mrs. Granger. “And your parents.” He said with disgust. “Muggles, aren’t they?”

“Funny how she’s the top of her class in every subject, but you still look down on her for being muggleborn.” Fred said, coming up to put a hand on Hermione’s shoulder.

“Even surpassing your son, despite him having 11 more years to learn about magic than she did.” George said, coming up to her other shoulder. Lucius scoffed.

“Alright kids, I think it’s time we make our way to the next shop.” Arthur said, trying to shew out all the kids. It was a good thing he did, because Lucius started making snide comments about muggles and the Weasley’s bringing a disgrace to the Wizarding name.

A few punches were thrown, but everyone made it out in one piece and with all the school supplies they needed.

✿

Hermione, Ginny, Parvati, Padma, Lavender, and Romilda were all in a compartment on the Hogwarts express, eager to see each other again. Well, meet each other, in Ginny’s case.

The trip to Hogwarts was shorter than expected and once everyone made it to their seats, the sorting began.

“Ginny told me you two were the ones who drew on our faces.” Fred whispered in Hermione’s ear, ignoring the sorting, deeming it uninteresting, until it’s Ginny’s turn. Hermione was rather attentive though, her back facing Fred.

“Did she?” Hermione said.

“Yes. And I have to say, I am very proud.” Fred put his chin on Hermione’s shoulder. “That ‘Ron was here’ tag was particularly clever. Blaming your rule breaking on my little brother.”

“Drawing on your face, isn’t breaking rules.”

“No, but it certainly doesn’t follow your studious goody-two-shoes brand.”

Hermione scoffed. “I don’t like breaking rules. That doesn’t mean I don’t like having fun.”

“You know, you keep saying things like that, but I think you might secretly like causing mischief.”

“In your dreams.”

“There’s no denying that, but I’m willing to bet it’s not just dream Hermione.” Fred let out a soft amused breath, barely a laugh, at Hermione’s bushing cheeks. Hermione risked glancing her glaring eyes at him, and immediately regretted it when their eyes met, seeing the endearing sly smirk on his face. She quickly averted her eyes back to the sorting.

“You seem to be enjoying this a little too much. Aren’t you even a little bit mad about the drawing on your face, thing?”

“Nah, just the knowledge that you plagiarized my brother's handwriting so he’d get in trouble, instead of you, is enough to make me happy for months.”

“You’re so dramatic.”

“I think I’m gonna have to start guilting you into doing pranks with me.”

“Don’t you dare.” Hermione hissed.

“Or what? You’ll petrify me?”

“Keep that cocky grin on your face for much longer and I just might.” Hermione mumbled.

“You’re cute when you’re trying to be threatening.” Fred said. Hermione crossed her arms and turned her face away, enough for him to not see it turning red. Fred finally lifted his head off her and turned towards the sorting, satisfied with himself for making Hermione blush. He was too lost to even notice his twin giving him an annoyed look that said ‘You shit, I thought it was just a stupid crush that you’d get over soon.’

Ginny ran over and sat down next to Percy who congratulated her for being sorted into Gryffindor. She was ecstatic and Hermione was looking forward to a great year with all her new friends.  _ At least this year we won’t have to deal with Voldemort. _ She thought.

✿

“You’re lucky you two didn’t get expelled.” Hermione was scolding Harry and Ron in the common room. They sat on the couch in front of the fireplace while Hermione stood in front of them, hands on her hips.

“Yeah, well we didn’t. So why are you bugging us about it?” Ron asked, beyond annoyed.

“You should offer to help find your parents' car. It’s the least you two could do after stealing it and then crashing it straight into the Whomping Willow.”

“Hermione, it went into the Forbidden Forest, we can’t go looking for it.” Harry said. “Unless you want us to break the rules and go into the fores—”

“No no no. That won’t be necessary.” Hermione sighed. “I just hope you two will at least try not to get into too much trouble this year. We don’t want to repeat the whole Voldemort thing from last year, now do we?”

“I promise, Hermione, we’ll do our best.” Harry said and Ron grunted in agreement.

Suddenly, Ginny leaped over to where the trio was. “Hermione, let’s go get breakfast together.” She looked over at Harry and started blushing all the way up to the top of her face. “Hi Harry.”

“Morning Ginny. How are you liking Hogwarts so far?” Harry said, politely making conversation with the younger girl.

“I like it a lot. I’m really glad we get to be in the same house.” Ginny said. There were a few loud booming sounds that caused all of them to jump. Fred, George, and Lee, were making a mad dash to the porthole, laughing maniacally.

“Get back here you three!” Percy shouted, running after them.

“You said something about breakfast.” Hermione made a face of temporary surrender, not wanting to deal with the Weasley/Jordan chaos on the first day of school. “Should we go do that now?” Ginny nodded.

✿

“Mind if we join you?” Hermione asked Parvati who was sitting next to Seamus.

“Of course not. I’d like the company.” Parvati responded.

“Where’s Lavender and Romilda?”

“Still asleep.”

Hermione picked up a piece of toast with jam and ate it as she dressed up a bowl of oatmeal with strawberries and brown sugar. The three girls started passing around marmalades and jams, debating which was the best after they finished their breakfast since they still had time before they needed to get to class. They had split some toast up and made bite size pieces with various spreads. Hermione was getting ready to try the lemon marmalade piece when a hand reached down from over her head and snatched up the blackberry jam covered toast.

“Fred!” Hermione turned to glare at Fred who had started walking away but didn’t get more than one step in before Hermione called him. “Stop eating my food.”

“I’m a growing boy, ‘Mione, I have to eat a lot.” Fred said.

“That’s fine. But there’s plenty of food here for you to have for yourself, you don’t need to keep taking mine.”

“But if I steal your food, then you get mad and scold me, which is very entertaining. It’s kinda like dinner and a show.” Hermione scowled at him and he burst out laughing. Taking advantage of Fred’s relatively unstable state, Hermione picked up a croissant and threw it at his head. After fumbling his arms around the pastry a couple times, he finally got a good grip and took a bite. Fred winked at Hermione and then strutted down the table to where George and Lee were, sitting down for breakfast.  _ This is going to be a long year. _ Hermione’s thought was interrupted by Parvati nudging her and suggesting they start making their way to their first class.

✿

A few weeks into the school year, all the second year Gryffindor girls(and Ginny) were sitting at a table in the common room, working on homework. Hermione had initiated the study group, thinking it would be better than working alone. She hadn’t intended on others inviting themselves into the group though, especially not Ron and Harry. Even though Hermione backed off from scolding them after Rom recieved a Howler from Mrs. Weasley, she still had a feeling that she wasn’t on the best terms with them.

“You want my help with the DADA assignment?” Hermione asked, lifting a brow at them.

“Yes. Please.” Harry said. “We don’t know anything about Lockhart.”

“Other than he’s a prick.” Ron shot in. Hermione glared and Ron’s expression changed to an almost apologetic look. “Please, Hermione? We don’t know who else to ask.”

“Alright, you two can join our study group, but you have to participate, you can’t just make us do all your work for you or I won’t let you stay.”

“Thank you Hermione. You’re the best.” Harry said.

“Yeah, thank you.”

These study sessions continued almost every night, and slowly over time, Hermione was finally able to confidently call both Harry and Ron her friends.


	6. Time to Suppress all Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That moment when your state implements a mandatory quarantine for all non-essential persons and you think you're gonna have a bunch of free time to catch up on writing, but then you remember you're an essential person and pick up extra shifts to accommodate for all the people taking a LOA, and because you're getting a hazard pay raise, so like, gotta get that cash. Amiright?

“There’s my good luck charm.” Fred said, pulling Hermione into a hug when she stepped out of the library. “Ready for the match today?” It was almost the end of the first month of school and everyone was getting excited for the first Quidditch match.

“Yes, but I need to get some homework done and out of the way first.” Hermione said, slightly leaning into the hug. She enjoyed the warmth coming from Fred’s body paired with the gentle movement of his breathing. They had become even closer in the last month. Chatting regularly. Mostly Hermione scolding Fred, George, and Lee about their pranks, but the Gryffindor house was very much like a family and they would spend hours in the common room, just hanging out with each other. So hugs were no longer out of the ordinary or awkward.

“Feel free to place bets on Gryffindor, you’ll make a good profit when we win.”

“I’m not going to gamble my money just because I know you’re gonna win.” She nuzzled into his chest and quietly inhaled through her nose, smiling at the calming scent of butterbeer and smoke, most likely from firewaorks.

“Tisk tisk Hermione.” Fred pulled back and cupped Hermione’s cheeks, gently touching their foreheads together. “At least you’ll be there to cheer me on.” He smiled.

“Y-yeah. Wouldn’t miss it.” Both of them blushed when their noses slightly brushed together. Fred decided that was close enough when a familiar sting of guilt settled in his stomach and he took a step back, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“See you there.” Fred winked at Hermione and then started making his way to the Great Hall. Hermione was left standing there, a blushing mess, clutching her books so hard that her hands slightly trembled.

Later that day, at the Quidditch match, Hermione sat with all the other Gryffindors, cheering on the team. The game stretched out, almost an hour longer than anticipated, which made the after party more underwhelming than usual. Gryffindor won against Ravenclaw and everyone was exhausted, especially the Quidditch team. By the time the clock read 1am, everyone was in bed and fast asleep.

✿

Fred was in the common room, rapidly writing in his notebook when Hermione came downstairs. He was all alone, which was unusual, but not unheard of. Hermione made her way over to him and peered over his shoulder to see what he was writing. He looked up and smiled as soon as he saw her.

“You’re up early.” Hermione said.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

Hermione nodded, knowing the feeling, and her eyes slowly trailed down his face, stopping at his smiling lips. “I couldn’t sleep either.” She brushed her hand against his shoulder. He set his pencil down and leaned back in his chair. “Actually, I was thinking about you.” She said nervously.

“Is that so?” Fred shifted his body so Hermione was standing between his legs. He grabbed the hand that she put on his shoulder and laced their fingers together. Hermione’s stomach tightened, her heart was beating rapidly, and she could feel her face warm up all over.

“Mhmm.” Hermione lifted her other hand and brushed her thumb against the corner of his mouth and it pulled upwards into a soft smile. She felt an arm snake its way around her waist pulling her close, so close that there was no longer space between their bodies.

“Can I kiss you?” Fred asked. Hermione started feeling dizzy. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. For a moment she thought she had imagined it, thinking that there was no way she could have actually heard his voice over the loud beating of her heart. However, on the off chance that she did hear correctly, it was too good an offer to risk passing up. Hermione gave a curt nod and slowly leaned down. She didn’t have to lean much since Fred’s height made him almost as tall as her when he was sitting. Fred tilted his chin up and pulled her even closer. Hermione’s eyes fluttered closed and she felt his lips lightly brush against hers.

Before they could fully press into each other, a loud ringing sounded and Hermione’s eyes snapped open. She was staring up at her ceiling. Just a dream. She thought. The actions leading up to the almost kiss vividly played on loop through her head. Hermione reached for the charmed stopwatch on her nightstand turning it off. Today she decided to abandon her routine of getting up at 7am on Saturday’s. Instead she turned onto her stomach, hiding her blushing face in her pillow, even though no one else was awake to see it. How am I gonna look him in the face ever again? 

✿

For the rest of the day, Hermione did her best to avoid Fred. It was a full proof plan in her head, but she hadn’t taken into consideration that he’d notice and track her down. Especially since she planned on staying in the library, one of the last places Fred would willingly hang out.

Absentmindedly walking down the hall made it so Harmione didn’t even see the hand reaching out and grabbing her arm to pull her into a dark passage behind a statue. She let out a pathetic noise of shock and felt her body being squished between a brick wall, and another oddly shaped and moving solid wall that was covered in cloth. A wand lit up in front of her face to reveal it wasn’t a wall in front of her, but instead it was Fred.

“Are you mad at me?” He asked. Hermione didn’t say anything. The lack of space between them, reminding her of the dream and making it difficult to think. “You are. What did I do to upset you?” His voice lowered. “Is it because I didn’t do anything fun for you for your birthday yesterday like I did last year?” This year Fred made Hermione a Cancel Prank card that she could use anytime she wanted, and whatever prank he, George, and Lee had planned, would be cancelled as soon as she handed it to one of them. They had even charmed the card, so that they couldn’t undermine it. “If you’re upset about that, we can go to Hogsmede today and it’ll just be a last minute birthday present.”

“I―” Hermione paused, not knowing what to say. Now that she thought about it in hindsight, avoiding Fred seemed like a really stupid plan. She knew she couldn’t tell him the real reason she was avoiding him. He’ll think I’m stupid for liking him. She started clenching and unclenching her fists. What if it makes him uncomfortable and he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. The idea of losing Fred as a friend made her push her feelings down as far as she could in that moment.

“Well? Are you going to tell me why you’re mad?” He said, using a gentle tone. It was enough to make Hermione mealt. She didn’t know what came over her, but after a moment of silence, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his middle and leaned her head on his chest.

“Not mad at you. I’m just feeling a bit off today.” She was angry at herself at that moment. She wanted this crush to stop. It wasn’t something she wanted to deal with. She tried pushing her emotions down even further, hoping they’d completely disintegrate.

Fred let out a sigh of relief. He returned the gesture “Anything I can do to help?”

“Just stay like this for a bit.” Hermione whispered.

“You got it.” Fred leaned down and pressed a kiss on top of her hair and then turned to rest his cheek on her head. Merlin, this is going to be difficult. Hermione clenched her stomach pushing down her feelings one more time. With enough practice, they’ll stay down. As much as she wanted this situation to end, she was happy he didn’t pull away… at least not for a while. They ignored the cramped feeling of the passage and stayed like that for an hour.


	7. Polyjuice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Bruh, end of year exams were cancelled in chamber of secrets, not philosopher's stone. Man, I really need to go back and read the books again, or at the very least, watch the movies as a refresher. I haven’t read the books(or watched the movies) in over 3 years. How embarrassing. I'll just have exams cancelled again for year two. Oh well.

Hermione tried tracking Ginny down several times during the next few days. It proved to be difficult, but Hermione wanted Giny to be the one she confided in about her crush. The younger girl would disappear before Hermione could get more than a sentence in, so Hermione decided it would be best to just give her some space and try again in a few days. With new found free time, Hermione started walking down the halls by the courtyard, and her ears were met with some Slytherin vs. Gryffindor comotion.

Of course it was no surprise to see Malfoy and Harry standing in the center, both quidditch teams backing them up respectively. Hermione caught the tail end of the conversation as she trotted up to the group. Fury filled her with each bragging word from Malfoy and she finally spoke up.

“At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on sheer talent.” Hermione said matter-of-factly, while crossing her arms.

“Nobody asked you, you filthy little mudblood.” Draco spat. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Fred and George lung forward, but Wood put up an arm to block them.

“You’ll pay for that one Malfoy.” Ron, the most unlikely of people to defend her, despite officially becoming friends, pulled out his wand and performed a jinx that immediately backfired. He fell to the ground and started throwing up slugs.

“Ron,” Hermione rushed over and patted his back. “Come on,” She looked over at Harry. “Let’s get him to Hagrid.”

Harry nodded and the three of them made their way down to Hagrid’s hut.

✿

The following week, Hermione did a good job of avoiding Fred as much as possible without being suspicious. Occasionally she’d entertain Harry and Ron, at least that’s what she started doing after an incident where Harry brings up hearing voices.

Then there was the incident where he broke his arm. Then another where he confided in Hermione and Ron about The Chamber of Secrets being open, which explained why Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey had been petrified. The three of them decided they were going to get to the bottom of everything that was happening.

✿

Hermione thought she had shut down the idea that Malfoy might have opened the chamber, but Ron and Harry wouldn’t budge, so Hermione decided it’d be best if they could hear it themselves and initiated the brewing of polyjuice potion. 

“It’ll take about a month.” Hermione said.

“A month?” Harry repeated. “But if Malfoy really is the heir, then half the muggleborn’s in the school could be dead by then.”

“I know. But it’s the only plan we’ve got.”

Begrudgingly, the two listened and left Hermione in the library to gather all the books she needed to prepare herself for making this potion. After reading through many books on ingredient prep and the dangers of each ingredient, she took the recipe book and set off to find the ingredients. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, since Snape was the one who had all the ingredients. There was a possibility she could get one or two of the ingredients from Professor Sprout, but there was no doubt the rest could only be found in one place.

Hermione went up to her dorm room to hang up her robe so it wouldn’t get in the way in case she needed to make a quick getaway. She also grabbed her messenger bag and stuffed the book in it, along with several bottles and jars so she’d be able to carry all the ingredients easier.

She made her way down to the hall near the potions classroom and checked several times to make sure the coast was clear before quietly making her way to the ingredients storage. It was locked. Of course. With another glance to the left and right, Hermione pulled out her wand and used alohomora to open the door, did one more look around to make sure no one saw, and stepped in, closing the door behind her.

The room was small, but the shelves were filled to the ceiling and there was a ladder on the side. Hermione quickly assessed that everything was organized so relatively harmless stuff was closer to the floor, and dangerous stuff was strategically seperated and placed higher. A jar labeled boomslang skin caught Hermione’s eye and she went over and pulled some out to put in her own smaller jars.

As soon as Hermione finished placing the lid back on, there was a fumbling at the door that made Hermione freeze in fear. She held her breath and stood as still as possible hoping it was just students passing by and not Snape. But when she heard the door hinges turn, she silently said her goodbyes to Hogwarts, knowing full well that Snape would send her straight to McGonagall who would put her on a train home for stealing.

“Well well well. Looks like someones up to no good.”

“Couldn’t agree more, Freddy. This situation reeks of mischief.”

Hermione slowly turned to look at the twins who were leaning against the closed door, arms crossed, right brow raised, and the all too familiar smirks plastered on their faces. Hermione could feel her body flood with relief and her tight grip on the jar full of boomslang skin loosened. She closed her eyes and let out the breath she had been holding. When Hermione opened her eyes, she started tearing up and slowly walked towards Fred and George. Their faces turned to a look of concern mixed with confusion.

Before one of them could ask what was wrong, Hermione wrapped an arm around each of them and pulled them into half-hugs. “You have no idea how happy I am to see your stupid faces.” Hermione sobbed into their arms. “I hate and love you both so much, right now.”

“Was that supposed to be a compliment?” George asked no one in particular.

“I don’t know,” Fred said. “Sounded kinda insulting-”

“Specifically the part about our faces being stupid-”

“I could’ve done with the hate part being left out too-”

“That would leave ‘happy to see you’ and ‘I love you both so much’ which sounds better to me.”

“Yes, that’d be a proper compliment.”

A laugh bubbled up in Hermione but ended up coming out as a soft sobbing noise. She wiped her right eye on Fred’s sleeve, and then her left eye on Georges sleeve, before pulling back and gently putting the jar of boomslang she was still holding, in her bag.

Her mind, for whatever reason, didn’t catch on to the lack of butterflies in her stomach. The one’s she usually had when she was around Fred. She’d figure it out sooner or later though, and credit keeping her distance from him for it.

“When I heard the door open I thought it was gonna be Snape. I’m relieved it’s you two, but you still gave me a good scare.” Hermione said, clarifying her initial reaction to seeing them.

“What are you even doing here in the first place?” Fred asked.

“Not that we don’t condone sneaking around places you’re not supposed to be, but I’m curious too.” George said.

“Umm, well, I’m trying to make a potion.” Hermione said.

“And?” The wins said in sync.

“… and it’s an advanced potion that I needed special ingredients for.”

“And?”

“… and it’s a potion I have to make without the professors finding out.”

“There it is.” Fred said.

“How advanced is the potion?” George asked.

“It’s a N.E.W.T level potion that students don’t learn to make until their sixth year.” Hermione said.

“Mhm. And what potion would that be?” Fred asked.

“Polyjuice potion.” Hermione rubbed the back of her neck and looked down at the floor.

“What ingredients do you still need to get?” George asked.

Hermione pulled the book out of her bag and opened to the right page. “Fluxweed, knotgrass, lacewing flies, leeches, and powdered Bicorn horn.” After reading out the list, she looked up to see the twins smiling down at her. There was something in their eyes that made them look… proud? She couldn’t place it exactly, but they did look proud. “What’s that look for?”

“You have no idea how happy we are to see you breaking rules with so much ease.” Fred said. Yup, it was definitely pride.

“Are you two gonna help me or not?” Hermione put her hands on her hips and the twins immediately started looking for ingredients. It took a total of two minutes to find everything and when the coast was clear, they snuck out of the storage room and Hermione made a beeline for the girls lavatory.

Fred and George had been following her the whole way there, but immediately stopped outside the door. Hermione paid them no attention and ignored their questions as she started setting up her potion station in the back of the room, where she wouldn’t be seen or heard by anyone who might walk by.

✿

The following day, an even more shocking incident happens when dueling club reveals Harry’s ability to talk to snakes. The seriousness of Harry’s situation finally sinks in, to all of them, and they make it their priority to keep a low profile, so their plan to successfully find out what Malfoy knows, doesn’t get discovered.

After a long day of tending to the potion, Ron and Harry make their way back to the dormitories, while Hermione heads to the library. It was still two more hours before curfew, so she knew she’d have time to do some research about what might be causing these petrifications before having to head to the common room.

While walking down the main aisle of the library, Hermione saw a familiar glimpse of red hair out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look down the magical creature section and her suspicions were confirmed. “Ginny?”

“Hermione.” Ginny whispered. The younger girl hastily put a piece of paper in a book she was holding, snapped it shut, ignoring Hermione calling her again, threw the book on the shelf, and made a mad dash out of the library when Hermione stepped towards her.

Hermione decided it would be best to just leave Ginny alone, so she went over to the book that was haphazardly thrown onto the shelf and began flipping through the pages. About halfway through, she got to the page Ginny was on and a loose piece of paper fell out.

Hermione caught it mid air before it hit the floor. It was a page labeled Basilisk. Hermione read through it and a few sentences in, she came to a realization, that it was a Basilisk that was going around petrifying students, and the only reason Harry could hear it, was because Basilisks are snakes and Harry was a Parseltongue.

But how’s it been getting through the school? She thought. She kept reading until she saw a word scribbled on the bottom. Pipes. Of course.


	8. A Stupid Child!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mild angst up ahead!

Hermione went back to the common room after she found the page Ginny left in the book to get in a good five hours of sleep, so she would be well rested before waking up at one in the morning to go snoop around for more information on Basilisks. She knew she wouldn’t be able to find what she wanted, unless she went in the restricted section, so that’s why she was preparing for an early morning journey. The only problem was, she’d be alone… at night… with a monster on the loose… so she’d have to find a way around that, but that was something she’d figure out before leaving.

Hermione’s few hours of sleep were very restless. She was too nervous and excited to get to the library and finally be able to put the pieces together, but her brain wouldn’t shut up. Finally, the anticipation became too strong and she decided she’d just wait in the common room.

Her stopwatch read a quarter til midnight, so she wasn’t surprised to see the common room empty, with the exception of Fred, George, and Lee, who were in the corner scheming as per usual.

The three snapped their heads in her direction immediately after she stepped in the room.

“Oh no. Granger please don’t tell me you’re up so you can study.” George said.

“No. That’s not why I’m awake.” Hermione said.

“Then what are you doing up?” Fred asked.

Hermione hesitated to tell them. She knew that despite their love for rule breaking, they would not approve of her, a muggleborn, wandering around the castle alone when a monster was on the loose targeting muggleborns. For a second she second guessed her plan and wanted to tell them in hopes that they’d go with her if they were so against the idea of her going alone.

Without thinking, she said, “I need to find a book… in the restricted section.”

All of their faces darkened. Hermione could see the anger surging through them. Even Lee looked upset despite not knowing her very well.

“You will absolutely not be doing that.” Fred stomped over to her and the face he was so uncharacteristically unhappy that it scared Hermione and she took a step back on instinct. She was so focused on the anger Fred was showing that she didn’t even register George and Lee doing the same thing, coming up on either side of Fred.

“You could come with if you’re-” Hermione started in a very timid voice.

“NO. Granger you will not leave the dorms under any circumstances until morning. I’ll make sure of that. Do I make myself clear?” Fred’s voice seemed to have gotten significantly deeper when he said this.

“What’s gotten into you? It wouldn't be the first time I go out after curfew.”

“Have you lost your mind? That’s not the point at all.” George said.

“Muggleborns are being targeted and petrified.” Lee said.

“I know, but it’s not like I was gonna go unprepared.”

“I don’t care how prepared you think you are. You’re not breaking any of the new rules.” Fred cringed as soon as those words left his mouth, but he didn’t take it back.

“You guys don’t understand. It’s important.”

“Important enough to risk your life?” George asked.

“I don’t think even Harry or Ron woud be dumb enough to do something like this.” Lee said.

“You seem to forget I'm the smartest student in second year, and I know much more than even some third years.”

“Your arrogance is really pissing me off.” Fred said. Hermione was very taken aback by the comment. “I’ll jinx you if I have to, to make sure you don’t go to the library.”

“I-I,” Hermione was blushing. The more they said, the more it sunk in how stupid this plan was. “The information I plan on getting could stop these petrifications from continuing.”

“If you think that changes anything I just said, you couldn’t be more wrong.” Fred said. “I can’t believe you were even considering this in the first place. You have the nerve to scold us for breaking the rules, but the one time new rules are made, rules that are keeping you alive, and you wanna break them.”

“You might be a Gryffindor, but this isn’t an act of bravery, it’s an act of childish stupidity, and that’s exactly what you are. A stupid child! ” Fred didn’t know why he was saying these things. He knew he didn’t mean it. He knew he took it too far when Hermione’s bottom lip began to tremble.

“Woah, mate, that’s a bit harsh.” George said, putting a hand on Fred’s shoulder. Fred slapped it away.

“No, it’s not harsh enough. Get this through your head Granger, you’re just a dumb kid.” No, you aren’t. “You couldn’t be further from holding the title of brightest witch your age if you thought this plan was fine.” That’s not true. “If you go through with this after everything I just told you, consider us no longer friends.” George was right, I’m being too harsh. “If you go, even if you somehow managed to do this without getting hurt, it wouldn’t matter, because you’d be dead to me either way.”

Hermione couldn’t stop the tears flowing down her face after hearing Fred, of all people, say such cruel things to her. She ducked her head and quickly made her way up the stairs to her dorm room. Silent tears soaked her pillow as she laid there, repeating Fred’s words in her head, over and over again. There was a tight squeezing in her chest and she did her best to will away the nausea bubbling in her stomach.

✿

The next morning Hermione got up half an hour earlier than usual to avoid running into Lee and the twins. What she didn’t expect to see was Lee sleeping in a makeshift blanket cocoon at the bottom of the stairs leading to the girls dorms. She did her best to carefully step over him without waking him.

The next thing that caught her off guard was seeing George sleeping at the bottom of the stairs in the common room, again, she did her best to step over without waking him. When she saw Fred sleeping in front of the porthole leading out of the common room, it clicked. They stayed out here all night to make sure they could stop her if she tried to leave.

After successfully overcoming the obstacles made of boys, she made her way to the great hall for a quiet breakfast. There were only a few students there, seeing as it was so early. Hermione grabbed a cinnamon roll and piled a home style hashbrown and vegetable medley on her plate. Hermione finished her breakfast and spent the rest of her time reading and sipping on pumpkin juice.

“Did you come down here by yourself?” Fred asked coming to stand by her. His voice was laced with concern, breathing heavily, and face pink, as if he ran here.

“Why do you care?” Hermione said in a venomous tone. “I thought I was dead to you.” Then she got up and left, shoving Fred’s shoulder as she walked past.

“‘Mione, I only said that because I was worried.”

Hermione turned back to Fred. “Stay. The hell. Away from me.” The look on his face was heart shattering but she ignored the feeling and walked to class.

✿

When Hermione got back to the common room after classes, she heard Oliver Wood scolding Lee and the twins, telling them to sleep in their rooms tonight so they could get proper sleep for the Quidditch game tomorrow.

Perfect. I can go get that book tonight. There’s no way Wood isn’t going to crack down the whip when it comes to Quidditch.

Hermione went to her room, set aside her robe with a hand mirror in one pocket and the page she got from Ginny in the other.


	9. AUTHORS NOTE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just an update to let you know that it will probably be another one or two weeks before I post the last chapter, just because 1. Life is kicking my, 2. Work is kicking my ass, 3.School is kicking my ass, 4. There is so much more editing I needed to do for chapter nine, 5. And the editing in combination with the fact that I had some of chapter ten written too, but not enough to make a full chapter, so I decided I'd just merge the last two chapters, and hopefully it turns out well. But that also means I'm gonna need more time to properly merge and pace the last two chapters into one big-ish chapter.

Also, something else I realized: You know how sometimes when you read a fanfic and the pacing is just all off? Like the writer(@me) makes a character say they're not gonna do something but then in the next chapter they do that thing? For example, a character has a crush on another character and tries to smother their feelings by avoiding that person, but then two paragraphs later they're hugging and you're just sitting their like "buddy, I thought you were avoiding them"? You know that?

Yes, well I figured out why that is. You see, it takes about 10X longer to write a paragraph than to read it. So in my head I'm thinking, 'wow this character has been on their own for the last 40 minutes that I've been writing', but then when you go back and read it, they were only alone for two paragraphs that takes five minutes to read. Anyway, I just wanted to @myself about that, because every time I edit, the pacing is the part I always get stuck on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worry not, I haven't forgotten about this fic. I promise I will keep updating and not pull a '2013 abandon fanfic' move.


	10. I Forgive You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully by now, you have all learned that I cannot be trusted to actually update when I say I will. But alas, I am here with the final chapter of the second installment of Year Two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there's be a lot of talk going around lately about JKR being a transphobic terf. So, I understand if people decide to stop engaging in fan created work based off her series, but I'd like to remind everyone, she doesn't directly profit off of fan content, she only profits off canon content. So, if you still want to interact with the series, but you're apprehensive about doing so, I just want to reassure you, she doesn't gain anything from Ao3 and fans who make fanfics/fanart. You can still buy her books, second hand, and she won't profit off it. You can still enjoy fanfic and fanart and she won't profit off it. You can still enjoy the world she created, without her profiting off it.
> 
> Just to be clear, this note isn't here to guilt you into reading my fics or future installments based off the HP series, like I said, I understand if you don't want to engage with HP content(both canon and fan-made) anymore because of what she's said, but I thought it was important I added this note, so you all know that I'm aware of what current events are going on in the fandom right now, and know I'm not turning a blind eye, or sweeping it under the rug.

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night, put on her robe over her pajamas and snuck down to the port hole. After a moment of contemplating Fred’s words, she decided she had better judgment, and that if she was right, she’d be able to help all the others.

She never once put the mirror down from the time she stepped out into the halls. The walk to the library was lonely and terrifying. But she chanted 'I’m a Gryffindor' in her head to remind herself to be brave. That didn’t change the fact that her heart would race every time she heard a small creaking noise.

Eventually she got to the library and made her way to the restricted section, searching for the magical creatures section. She took slow, quiet, careful steps through the aisle and spots the serpent section out of the corner of her eye and scans over the titles, careful to not let her gaze wander away from the materials, over the books or through the cracks in the shelf. She’s also mindful of checking behind her in the mirror every few minutes.

Then the worst case scenario she’d feared came to fruitions. There was a hissing noise coming from down the center aisle and a scraping noise against the floor, getting closer and closer.

Hermione had never been more grateful for her fight or flight instinct kicking in and moving her legs for her. She maneuvered between shelves, not taking her eyes off the mirror. She thought she was being quiet enough when she made it out of the restricted section and headed for the door. But a loud hiss right behind her caused her to look up in the corner of the mirror where two big, bright yellow eyes stared back at her. Then everything went black and she fell to the ground.

✿

“All of you go back to the dorms. Quidditch is cancelled.” McGonagall said, rounding on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

“You can’t cancel Quidditch.”

“Hush Wood. The decision has been made.” McGonagall looked over at Harry and Ron. “Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, there’s something I think you two should see.”

\- Fred’s POV -

Ron and Harry came back into the common room, faces drained of color.

“Dear little brother, what seems to be troubling you?” George asked. He was perched up on a table in the common room next to Fred, who was moping.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then slowly made their way to the twins.

“It’s Hermione.” Harry said. Fred sat up and dread filled his body.

“She was found in the library this morning… petrified.” Ron said in a voice just as solemn as Harry’s.

“We just got back from visiting her in the infirmary. She looked,” Harry gulped.

“She didn’t look too good.” Ron finished for him.

Fred felt his heart sink to his stomach at the news, and his throat closed up like it did when he was about to cry, but there were no tears in his eyes. He couldn’t help but think it was all his fault. He should’ve known she was going to go through with her plan one way or another. He should’ve just gone with her the first night when she asked him to.

Or he could’ve even ignored Woods' order to sleep in his room. If only he wasn’t selfish. If only he’d prioritized her safety and made sure she didn’t go. If only he didn’t choose a dull seven hours of sleep over her. If only he chose her over Quidditch.

But he didn’t.

And now he was suffering the consequences of that choice.

✿

A whole week had gone by and Fred still hadn’t visited Hermione in the infirmary, not wanting to see her in a petrified state. He spent most of his time staring at the floor, his food, the ceiling, his desk, basically any blank space he could focus in on. He didn’t want to look at anyone. Especially George. George knew about his feelings, so the look of pity he already knew his brother was giving him, was the last thing he wanted to see.

He didn’t deserve pity. He wasn’t the victim here. Not only that, but he could’ve prevented this whole situation, and that thought sat with him quite heavily.

“Mate, I think it’s time you go and visit her.” George said from beside him, on the couch, where they sat in the common room.

“I don’t think I can.”

“Then just do a little switch-a-roo and go visit her, pretending to be me. That way, it’s not really you visiting her, it’s George being played by someone else, visiting her.”

Fred stared at his brother, with a look of indifference on his face. He didn’t know whether to laugh, scold him, or punch him in the gut.

“You can’t be serious.” Fred finally said.

“One-hundred percent. It’s not like Granger will be able to tell that it isn’t me.”

“That’s because she’s unconscious, you dunce.”

“Minor detail. No need to get hung up on it.”

“Why don’t you go visit her? Pretend you’re me. She won’t be able to tell.” Fred said, mockingly.

“Hhh… I didn’t wanna have to do this mate, but you’ve given me no other choice.” Then George got up and went up to their dorm room, leaving Fred in the common room, without elaborating.

Fred just leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes. He was enjoying the peace when a heavy weight dropped onto his lap. Fred looked down and was met with the ugly smooshed face of Crookshanks.

“Hey, little dude.” He said, petting the cat. “You probably miss ‘Mione too, huh? This whole situation is probably hardest on you. Even though you’re an ugly cat, you still deserved the love and care you aren’t getting now. All because I didn’t have enough sense to realize she would’ve gone no matter what. If I agreed to go with her, at least she wouldn’t have been alone.”

“Meow.”

“I know, I know. Losing my temper instead of thinking the situation through, was a mistake.”

“Meow.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Fred let out a long sigh. “Say, you wouldn’t mind accompanying me to pay her a visit, would you?”

“Meow.”

“Alright. I’ll do it… for you of course.”

Crookshanks just gave Fred a deadpanned look before curling up on his lap.

✿

Fred held Crookshanks close to his chest as he made his way to the infirmary. The walk there felt a lot shorter than usual.

He stalled outside the door for several minutes before walking in. There she was. Laying on one of the beds in the back, frozen with one arm stretched out in front of her as if she were holding something.

Fred sat on the chair next to her bed and set Crookshanks next to Hermione. The cat snuggled into her side and purred loudly from getting to be near his owner for the first time in a while.

Fred slouched forward and rested his forehead on Hermione’s. She felt cold to the touch and wasn’t breathing, but he knew she was alive and savored the contact.

Crookshanks meowed at Fred after he made a quiet sniffling sound, and Fred looked up at the cat with unshed tears in his eyes.

“No, I am not crying.” Fred whispered to Crookshanks.

“Meow.”

“You must think you’re really smart then, huh?”

“Are you seriously talking to her cat?” Fred jumped at the sound of George’s voice and spun around to face him.

“What are you doing here?”

“I knew I could get you to visit Hermione if I sent Crookshanks down to guilt you into it, and I wanted to make sure it worked… but I didn’t expect you to talk to him.” George said, trying not to laugh.

“Oh, piss off if you’re gonna laugh at me.” Fred said, but there was no malice in his tone. Instead there was amusement.

“See? I knew seeing ‘er would cheer you up.”

“Yeah yeah, ok, you were right.”

“Hmm, what was that? I didn’t quite catch it. You’re gonna have to speak up Freddy.”

“I said you were right, you arse.”

“I do pride myself-” The doors to the infirmary burst open, cutting George off, and McGonagall rushed through and went straight to the twins.

“Mister and Mister Weasley, I have some very terrible news. I’ll need you two to come with me to the Headmasters office immediately.” McGonagall spun on her heels and began marching out.

The twins were close in toe, pestering her with questions about what was happening and why it was so urgent. But their Head of House refused to say anything more than telling them to be patient or that they’d find out soon enough.

When the twins walked into Dumbledores office, they saw their brothers Ron and Percy, and of course Dumbledore was there too.

“Thank you Professor McGonagall.” Dumbledore bowed his head to the professor who stood promptly to the side of the room. “As you boys can see,” Dumbledore addressed all of the Weasley boys. “Your sister is not here. It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened, and due to unforeseen circumstances, Miss Weasley has been trapped there.” Fred stiffened, along with his three brothers beside him. “I have sent someone to inform your father at the Ministry, and I have sent an Owl to your mother-”

“What good’s that gonna do?” It was Ron who spoke up. “My sister is trapped in a monster's lair and you're sending letters, when you could be down there saving her?”

“Ron! Hold your tongue.” Percy scolded.

Dumbledore put up a hand. “It’s quite alright Mister Weasley. I understand your frustration, and I can assure you Lockheart is going to take care of it.”

“That buffoon is who you’re sending to help Ginny? Are you mad? He’s an imbecile.”

“Ron!” Percy tried scolding him again, but it was too late, Ron was already stomping out of the office, muttering swears and something about finding Harry.

Fred’s heart sank again, but this time, he could feel that his brothers’ hearts were sinking too. Not only has he lost Hermione, but now his sister as well.

He didn’t even want to consider moving forward with life until they were both safe.

✿

Fred and George were in their dorm, lying on their sides, facing each other, on George’s bed. Both had dressed down to their pajamas, with no intention to leave, as silent tears ran down their cheeks.

They had been like this since leaving Dumbledore's office, earlier that day. Both felt numb. Both felt the need for familiar comfort. And both seeked out the other.

It was a silent agreement. Neither of them spoke because they were both afraid of completely falling apart if they tried. They both knew they wouldn’t be able to stabilize one another if that happened. So, silence and closeness became their anchor to hold each other in place.

✿

AN: Abrupt time skip ahead because I hate fillers.

✿

3rd Person POV -

Ron and Harry burst through the door of the fourth year boys dormitories and jumped onto George’s bed, pleading for the twins to get up.

The two older boys groaned and shuffled closer together, not bothering to hide their tear stained faces or untangling their limbs from each other.

“Seriously you two, come on.” Ron said, balancing one knee on George’s side and the other knee on Fred's side, causing them to groan again, but this time from pain.

“Go away, Ron. We aren’t interested.” George said.

“I think you’ll want to get up for this.” Harry said.

“No offense, Potter, but I don’t want to be near you or Ron right now.” Fred said, glaring over the arm George had loosely draped over him.

“Unless it’s about Ginny, neither of us wanna be near you.” George said.

“But it is about Ginny.” The twins piqued up at Harry’s words.

“It’s about Hermione too.” Ron said while digging his knee deeper into Fred’s side.

“What about them?” Fred asked, sitting up and violently shoving Ron onto the floor. George sat up too.

“Oi! That hurt!”

“Ginny is alright. She’s in the infirmar-” Before Harry could finish, the twins were up and sprinting out of the dorms.

They ran the entire way there, ignoring all the weird looks and side comments they got about their pajamas.

Sure enough, Harry was right. In the bed right next to Hermione’s, was Ginny, fast asleep, with Percy and their parents on either side of her bed.

Relief flooded both of them as they greeted their parents and sat next to Ginny's bed. She looked worn out, but other than that she seemed fine.

“Good news everyone,” Madame Pomfrey said, addressing everyone in the room. “The mandrakes have fully matured and the de-petrification process will be starting tomorrow.

Fred’s hopes were lifted even further at the news. His sister was safe, and within the next few days, Hermione will be too.

✿

“‘Mione! You’re awake.” Fred was at the door of the infirmary. He felt a huge wave of relief seeing Hermione sitting up on the edge of her bed. He sprinted towards her and she gave a lopsided smile and stood up preparing for the hug she knew was coming. He squeezed her as tightly to his body as he could without hurting her. Before she could hug him back, he pulled away and what came next took Hermione by surprise. Fred pulled her face up to his and leaned down. Their noses brushed past each other, and he hovered his lips over hers, not quite touching as he shakily inhaled and held in the breath, seeming to think twice about his actions. Her breath hitched at the closeness.

“I’m sorry I didn’t go with you, Hermione. I’m so so so sorry.” Fred gently brushed his thumb along Hermione’s cheek. “I never should have yelled at you. Or said all the awful things I said to you.” He started mentally hitting himself, thinking back to that night. “Just the thought of not getting to talk to you again, knowing those hurtful things were the last words I said to you… it was tearing me apart.”

Fred knew he was pushing it, but he craved just the slightest bit more contact. Even just a little would be enough for him. He tilted his head slightly, feeling a light brush of Hermione’s lips against his, so light, it was almost as if they hadn’t touched at all. But he immediately retracted when he felt Hermione tense. Now he stood, still cupping Hermione's face, foreheads pressed together, and lips a safe distance apart.

“Please forgive me?”

“That apology was pathetic. If you want me to forgive you, you’re gonna have to do better than that.” Hermione said in a serious tone. But she couldn’t keep the mask on when she saw the offended look on Fred’s face when he pulled back to look at her. Her face broke into a teasing smile and let out a breathy, relieved laugh.

“You’re making fun of me. And here I thought we were having a moment.”

“Oh, we definitely were having a moment, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this.

This time Hermione gave Fred a genuine smile. Then, as an afterthought, she pulled Fred’s face down to hers, turning it a little to the side and placed a kiss right next to the corner of his mouth. “I forgive you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes the Second Installment of my Fremione Series. I hope to be back in a timely manner with the first chapter of Year Three.  
> Until then, I would love to read your thoughts and comments on the story so far, they really help to motivate me to keep writing. Especially with all the biblical apocalyptic stuff going on in the world right now, it's nice to engage with other people in the fandom.


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